New to the forum - New Jenday - Need help please

[Pajarita]

She is masturbating, my dear. She must have been kept at a human light schedule...

[Wolf]

I knew that it didn't sound like a mating dance and after seeing the video, I know why. I agree with Pajarita that she is hormonal and is masturbating.

[Phoenix15]

Thanks again for the replies.

How long does this period last for? Does it need discouraging or leave her to it?
Can I ask what human light schedule mean please?

Have had another successful 40mins with her out her cage this evening with just me in the room. Once she was caged hubby and the kids came in and she didnt squawk as much as what she had done over the previous days

[Shashank]

Owning a bird is like a new brother or sister to the family treating them perfectly is the best way to gain their trust when I bought my second jenday conure he was fully afraid because he was not hand raise I bought him from the breeder .. I lost my limits I was so a angry at him
1 : I found a way I caught him with a cloth and placed him on the perch he again and again flew away from the perch again I used to catch and place on perch
2 : my first bird was a cockatiel I got a trick I used to feed my cockatiel then conure used to watch from a 10 inches
3 : then slowly I used fed him with my hand
4 : I suddenly made a mistake of directly step up he bite me twice I was badly hurt then if I pull my hand he was the boss
5 : then slowly he got step up on my hand
6 : don't overload his or her tummy because if their stomach is full bird will not learn anything my opinion is don't feed him at night in the morning take his/her fav treat and come up with the tricks.

[Wolf]

Shashank, I am going to hope that I am misunderstanding you as far as your training methods. If I am misunderstanding you then I apologise to you but based on what you wrote you have a very long way to go before you are ready to train any bird as the method described are abusive to the bird.

[Pajarita]

I have to agree with Wolf, Shashank, I am sure you have the best of intentions and do not realize this but none of your methods are any good for training as flooding is no longer recommended, and making a bird hungry so as to tame it is not what one would call kind or even fair to an animal. Instead of creating a bond based on trust and love, you are breaking the animal's spirit by making it so desperately hungry that it would do anything for food and forcing it to accept you. Your methods are what people used to do many years ago but we have learned not to so.

As to a human light schedule, Phoenix, this is when you turn on the lights before the sun is out and the sky is lit and keep them on after sunset and into the night (like any normal person would do). Birds regulate the season when they are supposed to breed by the length of the daylight hours (they need a long day and a short night so they can keep the babies well-fed) and the richness of the food (they need high protein and lots of different foods so as not to deplete themselves by laying the eggs and for the babies to be able to grow properly). A bird light schedule is a solar one (think of chickens and birds out on the trees), wake up with dawn, go foraging for food when the sun is out and the sky is completely lit (most predators are what is called crepuscular feeders, meaning they go out hunting in the twilight periods), look for dinner when the sun is setting and to sleep when night falls. In captivity, food is always rich and plentiful so, if you keep your bird at long days (the way humans live) all year round, the bird will produce sexual hormones all year round (which NEVER happens in the wild) and it will become overly hormonal (and this is what makes a lone bird masturbate). But masturbation is nothing, the real problem is that their entire endocrine system goes out of whack which, in turn, depresses the immune system and that, as their sexual organs are only supposed to be active for a few months of the year and go dormant for the rest, active gonads all year round, year after year will grow so large that they will displace other internal organs, creating chronic physical discomfort and even pain (and this is the main reason why lots of pet birds bite, scream, pluck their feathers and even self-mutilate).

[Phoenix15]

Thank you for that useful information. What is best to do? Am I to leave her covered over longer in the morning? At the moment her days are more a less 12hrs light 12hrs dark.

Hubby has stepped back from handling her for now as I'm home all day (work from home) just until shes settled in a bit more. The kids are able to come into her room and she doesn't scream at them so much. Think we making progess its been a week today

So far she mimics me drinking my coffee, makes chewing sounds when I eat something. Ive also figured what 2 of her screams are!

[Wolf]

No, she needs to be on a solar light schedule for her health, this means she should be uncovered with the house lights off just before dawn when the sky is just starting to get lighter and then to be covered when it is full dark in the evening after being exposed to the twilight period of dusk with house lights off.
If she is imitating you drinking and eating use this to her advantage by getting her a small shallow bowl of maybe apple juice to drink while you are drinking you morning coffee and make sure that you have a piece of fruit, a leafy green and or a raw vegetable or even some cooked whole grains that you can give her when she imitates you eating. My reasons are simple, the first is that she is likely asking you to share with her and secondly eating together is not only a social event for a parrot it is also a bonding activity.

[Pajarita]

Wolf is right. They need the exposure to twilight without any artificial lights because it's the reddish light of dawn and dusk that turns their internal 'stopwatch' on and off so her endocrine system can determine how long the day is and what season it is. The 12D/12L schedule was the 'improvement' we did years ago over the just plain old human schedule we used to use with them before but we found out it doesn't really work to stop them from producing sexual hormones. All tropical and semi-tropical birds breed with 12D/12L because this is the natural light schedule on and near the Equator and the birds from temperate climates would, too, because of the abundant and rich diet we give them in captivity and because, without the twilight, their endocrine system doesn't quite work as it should.

Jendays are excellent eaters (all conures, actually) and it will be fairly easy to switch her to a healthy diet. Maybe you can incorporate fruits into your own breakfast - parrots owners always say they started eating much healthier because of their birds

[Phoenix15]

Hi, its been a while so thought I would update.

I've been spending a good 2-4hrs a day one to one time with Fifi, I dont get bitten, I can give her cuddles, she like to hide under a blanket if im cuddled up, then she'll back up along my chest and brush herself on my face, we share fruit and a glass of water from time to time. When having her out the cage i can walk about the house with her do a few chores etc but she wont leave my shoulders to just sit and watch just yet. In the room that I have her in she will quiet happily wonder about and explore. We still having problems with her biting hubby but she will go to him but once I step in the room its attack time!!!

One thing shes started doing is tearing up the paper in the bottom of her cage, she been doing this none stop since last night. Shes chirping away whilst doing this though. Theres been hardly any screeching today is this a stressed thing or just a pass time thing. She actually sounds a bit like donald duck today with her noises lol

Thanks for reading
Rehomed Fifi 25th March 2015